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It is any injury to the forearm that affects the skin and causes a loss of its integrity.
It is usually caused by falls, blows, burns, weapons and other types of accidents.
It can present with bleeding, pain and redness. If there is also an infection, it may be accompanied by discolouration, swelling, heat, pain, sloughing, stinging, etc. Depending on the severity, medical help may be needed.
The diagnosis is made by interview and physical examination of the injured area.
Depending on the depth of the wound, they are classified as
- Superficial or simple: only the outer layers of the skin (epidermis and dermis) are damaged, without affecting other structures such as blood vessels, nerves or tendons.
- Deep: they go beyond the deepest layer of the skin (subcutaneous tissue) and affect different tissues, skin, muscle or bone. Reconstruction and regeneration are more difficult.
- Perforating: they penetrate organic cavities, even damaging organs.
- Impalement: caused by a sharp, piercing object that becomes lodged in the body, causing various types of injury and organ involvement.
In many cases these can be treated at home or as an outpatient. If the injury is deep or bleeds heavily, you should get help from a specialist in hospital.
- Pancorbo-Hidalgo P. Investigación sobre las heridas. Gerokomos [Internet]. 2016 ; 27( 3 ): 89-90. Disponible en: http://scielo.isciii.es/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1134-928X2016000300001
- MedlinePlus: Información de Salud para usted [Internet]. Estados Unidos: National Library of Medicine. Disponible en: https://medlineplus.gov/spanish/woundsandinjuries.html
- Amstrong D, Meyr A. Clinical assessment of wounds. UptoDate [Internet]. 2018. Disponible en:https://www.uptodate.com/contents/clinical-assessment-of-wounds?search=wound%20diagnosis&source=search_result&selectedTitle=1~150&usage_type=default&display_rank=1
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